AA Sox sweep twinbill against Jonesboro team
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Alex Thompson smacked a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the seventh of game one then three pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout as the Bryant Sport Shop Black Sox AA American Legion team swept Jonesboro Armor Seed at Bryant High School Field Friday night.
Coaches Hunter Mayall and Josh Pultro have the Sport Shop team scrapping and they’ve now won four of their first five games with a home twinbill scheduled on Monday, June 8, against Morrilton up next.
Hunter Oglesby, Jeffrey Hastings and Christian Harp threw the five-inning shutout in the 10-0 win in game two on Friday.
In game one, the Sox led 5-0 early then fell behind 6-5 going into the bottom of the sixth. They rallied to tie it in the sixth then won it in the seventh when C.J. Wallace walked, went to second on a wild pitch and raced home with the game-winner on Thompson’s two-out single over the second baseman’s head.
Thompson, Matthew Sandidge and Joey Cates each had two hits in the opener. In the second game, Diego Vargas went 3 for 3 while Myers Buck and Oglesby produced two hits apiece.
Daniel Darbonne held Armor Seed in check in the first game over the first three innings but ran into some trouble after an error in the top of the fourth.
The Sox got two runs in the bottom of the first, Cates walked and stole second then Oglesby reached on a throwing error that allowed Cates to score. After moving up on a wild pitch and taking third at Caleb Chaffin reached on a third-strike passed ball, Oglesby scored on a single by Sandidge.
In the second, Thompson walked and scored when Cates found the gap in right-center for a triple, making it 3-0. Oglesby and Chaffin were hit by a pitches, loading the bases. Harp’s grounder to short got Cates home then Sandidge came through again with an RBI single.
Jonesboro picked up its first run in the top of the third. After Darbonne got the first two outs on comebackers, Gavin Stone beat out an infield hit and went to second on a late, errant throw. Israel Garcia then singled him home.
Reid Eakin reached second on a dropped flyball to open the fourth. With one out, Charlie McClure walked and Coty Hackett singled in a run. Payton Gooch was hit by a pitch to load the bases then Kobe Scrape pulled a single to left to plate two, making it 5-4.
With just one out, Armor had the potential tying and lead runs on base and the top of the order due. But Darbonne got Stone to pop out to Thompson, the catcher, then Garcia to fly out to Oglesby in center. For Garcia, who had three hits in the game, it was the only time the Sox retired him.
It stayed 5-4 until the top of the sixth when Jonesboro took advantage of a pair of Bryant errors. Stone double in a run then Garcia singled in the go-ahead tally.
But the Sox scrapped in the bottom of the sixth. Thompson led off with a shot inside the bag at third for a double. Hastings walked then Cates beat out a bunt single to load the bags. With one out, Chaffin came through with a sacrifice fly to make it 6-6 but the Sox could get no more in the inning as reliever Grayson Christian worked out the jam.
Grayson Prince, in his third inning of relief, issued a walk to Dominick Lee and hit Gooch with two outs but struck out Christian to keep it deadlocked, setting up the Black Sox’ game-winning uprising.
Jonesboro’s best chance to score in the second game came in the first inning. With one out, Lee singled but was thrown out trying to steal by Cates. Scrape reached on an error then Trevor Harvey singled but Oglesby got Jackson Miller to tap back to the mound to end the inning.
Armor Seed wound manage just one base-runner the rest of the way. Oglesby retired seven in a row and wound up striking out six over the first three frames. In the fourth, Harvey had a one-out single against Hastings, who proceeded to retire the next two to preserve the shutout. Harp then worked a 1-2-3 fifth.
A seven-run third put the Black Sox in the driver’s seat. The took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Cates’ towering fly to left was dropped. Hustling out of the box, Cates made it all the way to third. He scored when Oglesby singled.
The big third-inning uprising started with a walk to Darbonne, who advanced on a wild pitch as Sandidge walked. Darbonne stole third and scored when the throw there was wild. Sandidge took second on the error then stole third. Brandon Hoover got him in with a solid single to right.
After Buck singled, Jonesboro made a pitching change but Vargas greeted the new hurler with a base hit to load the bases for Ethan Thompson. He made it 4-0 with a sacrifice fly.
Cates singled in a run and took second on an errant throw to the plate. Oglesby then doubled to drive in two, making it 8-0. Darbonne reached on an error then a passed ball allowed Oglesby to score the final run of the frame.
The Sox made it a run-rule lead with two more in the bottom of the fourth. Prince beat out an infield hit. He moved to second on a tap to first by Noah Easterling, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Buck’s second single.
Vargas beat out an infield hit and when a late throw to first got away, runners were at second and third. Ethan Thompson drew a walk and the bases were loaded for Alex Thompson, who singled to make it 10-0.
